The Very Best: White and Yellow Cakes

May 16th, 2011 § 45 Comments

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I’m a cake connoisseur.

Really, I am.

Ask anyone.

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I can detect the subtlest of differences in flavor, the openness of the crumb, even the order wet and dry ingredients were mixed.

When I first got into baking, I approached it as I would any worldly venture: blindly and dangerously.

I stayed up late scanning recipes, inspected ratios of flour to sugar to butter to more butter to butter butter butter. Baking involves butter, I found.

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I baked sponge cake after pound cake after genoise cake after angel food, because I wanted to figure out the gentle transformation a sweet slipped through when the wet and the dry got jumbled. When the baking powder and baking soda did the nasty. Why my eggs were more willing to rise at room temperature. And finally, why (please Lord, WHY?!!!) cake didn’t frost its own damn self?

Still waiting on the last one.

True to my nature, I chose to explore baking in a wild fury. I came at her from every angle, dissected the process in every tender way, read about every nuance, and most tellingly, I taste tested every last crumb. Then I taste tested again. And just as I finished taste testing, I repeated twice more.

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And what I’ve learned from all of it, is that I love dessert*.

*I also make obvious statements at my own discretion.

A real homemade slice of something sweet. A big and round bakery layer cake, heavy on the frosting. The way fork tines slip through cheesecake like a knife through softened butter.

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Just talking about sweets now, my mouth waters; my imagination flashes to gooey and creamy and chewy and melting scoops of ice cream. Anything that would melt it so slowly. My eyes glaze over.

So when you ask me my favorite cake flavor, you’re really asking a lot of me. (Pretend to be interested here)

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I’ll just come out with it.

Ready?

Vanilla.

But not just reg’lar ole ‘nilla.

No.

Fluffy white vanilla cake.

Not to be confused with yellow vanilla cake.

The thing is, there’s such a gentle texture, a light and lovely subtlety between white and yellow cake. But once your tongue meets this kind of sweet cream distinction, you’ll never be able to forget.

Both are rounded and rich in a smooth, creamy way. They should be moist. Soft and tender. Scented like a vanilla bean whipped with butter.

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Because I love you, I’m sharing my notes on each: yellow and white cakes. The similarities, the differences, the best recipes I’ve adapted for each.

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Let’s begin with white cake. It’s dainty, almost unbearably light, so tender that it crumbles at your lips. The texture is fluffy, puffed and cloud-like, whipped only with egg whites. The flavor is gentle, sweet and vanilla-scented. The crumb is small and tight, fine like velvet. This is the kind of cake you’d have at your wedding. It’s fragile, unforgettable and vulnerable. She pairs well with whipped white frosting.

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Now, yellow. Yeller, as I call her. She’s just as tender, but perhaps sturdier than her ethereal white sister. Pale and sunny-hued with rich, egg custard flavor. Her crumb is bigger, more open and airy, moister. She tastes smooth and intense like all butter pound cake. Silkier because of her beaten yeller’ yolks. This is the kind of cake that holds up under rich chocolate frosting. She shines vanilla even without a bold topping.

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Perfect White Cupcakes

(adapted from Cooks Illustrated)

makes 12

…..

1 cup cake flour

½ cup whole milk, at room temperature

3 large egg whites, at room temperature

1teaspoon vanilla extract

¾ cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened but still cool

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 12-cup standard size cupcake tin with paper liners. Spritz each with nonstick cooking spray.

Lightly whisk milk, egg whites, and vanilla extract in large glass measuring cup.

Mix cake flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in the bowl of a stand electric mixer and add butter; beating at low speed until mixture resembles moist crumbs, with no large clumps of flour.

Add 3/4 of the milk mixture to the crumbs and beat at medium speed (or high speed if using handheld mixer) for 1 1/2 minutes. Add remaining milk mixture and beat 30 seconds more. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat for 20 seconds longer at low speed.

Evenly distribute the batter in the cupcake tin. Bake for 20-22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Remove the cupcakes from the pan carefully and let them cool completely on a wire rack.

………………………………

Perfect Yellow Cupcakes

(adapted from Cooks Illustrated)

makes 12

1 ½ cups flour

¾ cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

8 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature

½ cup sour cream

2 large eggs , room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 12 cup standard sized cupcake tin with paper liners and spritz lightly with nonstick cooking spray.

Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in the bowl of a standing electric mixer. Add butter, sour cream, eggs, and vanilla. Beat at medium speed until smooth and satiny, about 30 seconds. Scrape down sides of bowl with rubber spatula and mix by hand until smooth and no clumps of flour are visible.

Evenly divide the batter among the cups in your prepared pan. Bake until cupcake tops are pale gold and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 20 to 22 minutes. Remove the cupcakes from the pan carefully and let them cool completely on a wire rack.

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